Lords EU Committee report on UK-Switzerland Trade Agreement
The House of Lords EU Committee has today drawn the ‘special attention' of the House of Lords to the Trade Agreement between the UK and Switzerland, which is intended to roll over eight existing EU-Swiss Agreements as part of the Government's Brexit preparations.
Today's report is part of the EU Committee's new role in scrutinising Brexit-related treaties that are laid before Parliament prior to ratification.
The Committee notes that the Trade Agreement differs significantly from the precursor agreement which the UK is party to as an EU Member State. These differences include:
- Most trade in services, which make up 52% of all UK-Swiss trade, is not covered by the deal. The Committee calls on the Government to explain its plans for future UK-Swiss trade in services.
- The deal could place new limits on the export of agricultural products from the UK to Switzerland, for instance raising the possibility that the UK will not be able to export products marketed as organic to Switzerland after Brexit.
- Under the deal Switzerland will no longer recognise the Authorised Economic Operator status of businesses accredited as AEOs in the UK, which would mean they lose access to benefits such as fewer controls at the Swiss border.
Commenting on the report, Lord Boswell, Chair of the Lords EU Committee, said:
“Trade with Switzerland matters. It's our 10th biggest trading partner globally and the third largest of non-EU States. We have a large trade surplus in services with with Switzerland, including financial services and professional business services. So it's important we get our future trading relationship right.
“We have raised the proposed Trade Agreement to the special attention of the House as it is politically drawn and in many aspects differs significantly from the EU-Swiss agreements it replaces. We hope expect our report will help Members of both Houses in exploring these issues in more detail.”
